Pink's Bottom Line on Media, Money and Sports
Subscription price hikes in digital media, Chipotle's earnings and NBA title favorites for 2022
In today’s newsletter, I discuss subscription price hikes in digital media, Chipotle’s earnings and NBA title favorites for 2022.
MEDIA: Subscription Price Hikes
The Athletic, a subscription sports news and information service, recently hiked the price of a annual subscription.
The Athletic began charging $71.99 for an annual subscription last week, up about 20% from its previous yearly price.
That follows on the heels of a recently announced monthly subscription price increase for ESPN+. In August, it will cost $69.99 for an annual subscription to ESPN+, ten dollars more than the current yearly price.
Pink's Bottom Line
For many consumers, it’s not unusual to have six to ten digital media subscription products considering the rapid subscriber growth of Netflix, Disney+, ESPN+, The New York Times, Bloomberg and many others.
However, if many media companies soon plan to implement price hikes like the ones from ESPN+ and The Athletic, look for consumers to revisit the number of subscriptions that they hold and look for pricing power for these digital media products to erode very quickly.
MONEY: Chipotle Earnings
Chipotle, the immensely popular Mexican fast casual restaurant chain, Tuesday reported strong quarterly earnings.
Pink's Bottom Line
Chipotle, like other national restaurant chains, emerged as a beneficiary of the coronavirus pandemic as more customers placed orders digitally — and Chipotle had the scale and technology in place to handle that increased volume of orders.
While it’s likely that the pandemic acted as an accelerant to Chipotle’s digital sales, those digital sales should continue to increase in the next year, albeit at a slower pace than they’re currently rising.
Still, that suggests that digital sales for Chipotle could soon account for more than half of the restaurant chain’s total sales as early as the beginning of 2022.
SPORTS: NBA Title Favorites for 2022
The Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA title last night beating the Phoenix Suns 4-2 in their best of seven series — it’s the first NBA championship for the team in 50 years.
While that’s quite an achievement for the Bucks, the team isn’t favored to win a second straight NBA title next year.
According to FanDuel Sportsbook, the Brooklyn Nets are the clear favorite to win it all in the NBA in 2022 at +200. The Los Angeles Lakers are the second favorite at +600, and the Bucks are the third favorite at +850.
Pink's Bottom Line
The Lakers — with an aging LeBron James and an injury prone Anthony Davis — likely won’t be title contenders in 2022.
That means that for the first time in many years in the NBA, the Eastern Conference probably has the two best teams in the league in the Nets and the Bucks.
As such, expect the NBA champion to come from either Brooklyn or Milwaukee next year.
As for the surprise team next year, look for the Memphis Grizzlies to make it to the Western Conference Finals — Memphis has a strong core of young talent who will only improve next season.
Jeremy Pink is currently COO of Geniecast, a leading virtual content and experience company. He is the former CEO of private-equity backed Broadcast Sports International where he helped lead the company to a successful sale and exit during his tenure there. He is also a former CNBC television executive in New York, London and Singapore.
The information contained in this communication is strictly for general informational and entertainment purposes and is not meant to be construed as financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. This communication is not a solicitation to buy or sell any securities. I am not a financial advisor or offering professional advice of any kind. Users should not act upon the content or information found within this communication without first seeking professional advice appropriate for their individual situation. Decisions based on information contained in this communication are the sole responsibility of the user, and use of this communication and its contents constitutes an explicit understanding and acceptance of the foregoing disclaimers.
(Newsletter Editor: Karina Pink)